San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-11-03

] cumstanCeS ceased TO throw US together;
and have much pleasure in admitting
that therein / did him an injustice. We
did not, of cOure, take advantage OF that
somewhat vague invitation 10 become
Lord Staines' guests in the Highlands;
but a few months later Bracknen re-
deemed his fathers promise that he
should look us up at Oxford, and, falling
in with many other old Etonians there,
had such a gay and uproarious time Of 1t
that he was easily persuaded to repeat his
visit at an early date Indeed, during the
following two years. he used to make peri
Odical descents upon Christchurch, where a
band of choice spirits was ever ready 10
welcome him, and where his arrival was
invariably the signal for a bear fight upon
an unusually extensive scale On the en-
suing day BraCknell would return to Lon
don, leaving poor Jim to face the college
authorities, who, however, generally let
him off easily. fancy they knew pretty
[ well that he was sure, under all circum-
stances, to be made the scapegOat; more
over, II really was not in human nature
no, not even in donnish nature-to be hard
upon Jim Leigh.
On attaining the age Of 81 he was duly
| placed in possession Of his estate, together
with personal property which, believe,
made his income up TO something over
60, 900 year; so that he was, in all senses
of the word, independent. At his request,
however, his uncle and aunt, who had
resided at Elmhurst throughout his long
minority, consented to remain there until
he should marry, an event which / had
reason to think might not be very remote.
But this was profound secret. jim had
let me into it because from our earliest
bOyhood he had had no secrets from me;
but to not another soul had he spoken of
his hopes-least of all to the lady who
was the object of them.
l should be very glad to be able to write
! of Hilda Turner with perfect impartiality,
| for were that in my power / should prob
ably convey far better idea of her to the
reader, who, if he had met her in the
| flesh, would doubtless have been fasci-
mated with her, as most people were, and
might even have fallen in love with her,
as a great many did. But the simple
| truth is that | never could endure the
| girl, and so my evidence must be taken
| for whatever that of a prejudiced witness
may be worth. i have, at any rate, no
hesitation in allowing that she was ex-
tremely pretty, although her beauty was
not of regular order, and that her man
ners were charming, although they did
not happen to charm me. She was one of
those very fair people whose compilations
are of the clearest white, the bloom upon
whose cheeks is one of the most delicate
and exquisite pink, and who seldom be-
come wrinkled before they reach extreme
old age. But | don't insist upon that
| point. Hilda had golden hair and blue
eyes, and if everybody had teeth like hers
tl,. hn ~ 20 ,,I
other occupation. To be sure, when you
began to criticise there were plenty Of
faults to be found with her face. Her
nose, for instance, was too short, her jaw
was too square, and her lips were trifle
too thin. l remember once pointing out
these defects to my mother, who shook
her head, and said that if expected per-
lection l should have some difficulty in
finding a wife. Certain it is that | am
unmarried still though not, think, on
account of the cause assigned, but am
very sure that my mother would have
chosen that should remain bachelor to
my dying day rather than that | should
fall In love with Hilda Turner.
] suppose that never since the world be-
gan did there live quite so poor judge Of
character as my dear mother. Partly
from having seen very little Of the bad
side of human nature-for she had been a
confirmed invalid, unable to put foot to
the ground, almost from the time of my
birth-partly from her unquestioning
faith in the wisdom and mercy of an over
ruling Providence, which causes her to
take an optimistic view Of everything, her
own constant sutfeTings included; partly,
too, from the natural sweetness of her
disposition, which renders her, | do be-
lieve, incapable of COnceving that any one
can be Intentionally wicked, she habitual-
ly regards others as she wishes them to
be, and by no means as they actually are.
Yet recOlleCt that upon one occasion she
gave me to understand, with o good deal
of circumlOcutiOn and hesitation, that she
feared Hilda Turner was not an entirely
straightforward girl. What her grounds
were for formulating this tremendously
severe charge l could not induce her to
divulge; but suspect that she had caught
the young lady in an unequivocal fib. /
could have tod her that that was no I'M
common occurrence but never did tell
her such things when l could help it, be-
cause the only effect Of my doing so was
to give her unnecessary pain.
If she had some misgiving about Hilda,
she had none at all about Hilda's father,
the rector of the parish, of whom she al
ways spoke as good Mr.. Turner" Good
Mr.. Turner was-nOt to minCe matters
an ass. There was no harm in him. He
pottered about the parish, did little
work, preached us a sermon once a week,
which had at least the merit of brevity,
and was benevolent in passive sort of
way. Hilda ruled him--I won't coy with
a rod of iron, for no such formidable
weapon could possibly have been required
for so gentle a creature but at any rate
she ruled him absolutely
Our neighborhood not being a very
thickly inhabited one, the few families
who lived within a mile or two of each
other were naturally intimate. Hilda
and Jim and had grown up from child
hood together as companions, and when
the Henleys were at Staines Court we also
saw good deal Of BraCknell and his sis
ter. However, after Lady Staines'
death the great house was generally
empty. Lord Staines was always in Lon
don or in Scotland, or at Newmarket, or
at some other of the resorts where he
spent his money so freely, and it was only
at rare intervals that quiet little lady Mil
bred would come down for week or so,
attended by her gOverness and accompa-
MED by one of the aunts who looked after
her. She was demure little mouse of a
thing, with bright brown eyes, which saw
good deal more than was commonly
supposed, and as kind heart as ever
beat; but as she was rather shy, and had
way Of keeping her opinions to herself,
nobody noticed her much. She and Hilda
were by way of being friends, although it